1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



255 



thorough-going individual will manifest these qual- 

 ities in whatever business he may be employed, and 

 in whatever position he may be placed. As we re- 

 member the anecdote alluded to, it was as follows : 

 Mr. Gray was severely lecturing a mechanic who 

 had done some job for him, for the poor manner 

 in which it was executed. The mechanic, who was 

 much older than Mr. Gray, at last got vexed, and 

 told him he would not stand such talk from him, 

 if he was the richest ; and tauntingly said, "I can 

 remember when you were nothing but a drummer." 

 "Very true," said the then rich merchant; "but 

 didn't I drum well, eh ?" 



To the same point, is a reminiscence of the pres- 

 ent head of the firm of Harper Sc Brothers, written 

 some years since by Hon. Thurlow Weed, of Alba- 

 ny, N. Y. In their younger days, these gentle- 

 men worked together as journeymen printers. Mr. 

 Weed says : many a hard "pull" have I had with 

 Mr. Harper, who, on the old hand-press, was nev- 

 er satisfied with less that twelve "tokens" a day — 

 eight being considered a fair day's work. Mr. 

 Weed also remarked, that while his own earnings, 

 and those of his fellow-journeymen generally slip- 

 ped through the fingers about as fast as they came 

 into their hands, Mr. Harper laid up his, and was 

 thus enabled to improve the first opportunity that 

 offered for a share in the profits of business. 



Similar instances might be adduced to any extent. 

 But no reader who is old enough to have seen boys 

 grow up to manhood, none who have read biogra- 

 phy, will wish it to be done. All, probably, have 

 seen enough to justify the adage, "As the boy, so 

 the man." Every body will readily call to mind, 

 from his own observation, instances of "natural 

 adaptation," which prove that one man is adapted 

 to everything, another man to nothing ; one drives, 

 the other must be driven ; one is prompt, the oth- 

 er slack ; one succeeds, the other fails, — place them 

 where you may, or contrast them when you will. 



If, then, the elements of success and of failure 

 exist rather in the man than in his position, may 

 we not question the correctness of the common idea 

 that the farm is no place for "geniuses," and that a 

 boy ought to leave it, at once, for the study of 

 medicine, if he manifests a little unusual interest 

 in the growth or qualities of plants and herbs; or 

 for a mechanical trade, if he shows some ingenuity 

 in the use of tools ; or for the lawyer's office, if he 

 loves to dispute, and prefers talking politick to hoe- 

 ing corn ; or for the store or pedler's cart, if he is 

 lucky in trading marbles, pen-knives, or watches. 



For the cultivation and exercise of these "natur- 

 al adaptations," we believe the farm is much better 

 fitted than it is generally supposed to be ; and we 

 hope the time is not far distant when their indul- 

 gence may be found in the stildy of such subjects 

 as the habits of insects ; the variety and character 

 of grasses and other vegetables ; animal physiolo 



gy; the principles of trade and of government, 

 even, without necessarily excluding the student 

 from participation in the labors of the field. 



But we have written enough for this time ; and 

 will conclude with an illustration, which came un- 

 der our notice in one of our tours last summer, of 

 the adaptation of the farm to the exercise and dis- 

 play of mechanical taste and skill. 



We allude to a farmer whom we visited, in one 

 of the pleasant valleys of Vermont. Although cir- 

 cumstances compelled him to remain with his fa- 

 ther on the farm until "of age," his inclinations 

 were so decidedly to mechanical' business that he 

 went into a shop immediately after he was twenty- 

 one years old. He worked at his trade some ten 

 years, when, finding his health to suffer from con- 

 finement, he purchased a farm, and soon regained 

 his health. We found everything about the prem- 

 ises in complete order. Indeed, we doubt if any 

 parlor in the land could furnish, to our eye, at least, 

 a better display of mechanical skill than this farm 

 did. Most of the buildings had been constructed, 

 and all repaired, by the hand of the proprietor; 

 the fences were erect ; the posts stood perpendic- 

 ularly upright ; every gate about the fields and 

 yards, every door about the barns and sheds, 

 opened easily, and closed with a "click," which 

 showed that the latch knew its duty, and that there 

 was no need of going back to see that all was fast ; 

 wood and chips, carts and plows, were safely housed ; 

 the little walled dairy, cool in summer, warm in 

 winter, and always sweet and airy, built against the 

 hill that flanked the rear of the house ; the gar- 

 den, with its simple apparatus for irrigation ; the 

 fruit and "shade trees, vines and shrubbery 5 the 

 stables, pig-pens, sheep-sheds, and shelter for ma- 

 nure ; the conveniences for cooking swill and for 

 feeding stock ; — each separately, or all together, 

 showed conclusively to our mind that the skill of the 

 mechanic may find its vocation upon the farm, as 

 well as in the shop, and that the possession of a 

 little ingenuity is a poor excuse for leaving the 

 farm. 



The same might be said of many other supposed 

 adaptations, but we have not room now. 



A State Agricultural Fair in Boston. — At 

 a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture at 

 Westboro' on the first of April, Gov. Gardner in 

 the chair, it was agreed that a State Agricultural 

 Fair should be held on the 20th, 21st, 22d and 

 23d days of October next, and that the place 

 should be the agricultural grounds in Boston, pro- 

 vided a sufliicient guarantee fund is secured. The 

 following is the committee of arrangements : — 

 Marshall P. Wilder, of Dorchester, Samuel Chan- 

 dler, of Lexington, John Brooks, of Princeton, 

 Geoi-ge Marston, of Barnstable, Wm. G. Lewis, of 

 Framingham, Moses Newell, of West Newbury, 



